How I started running

One of the most common & frustrating things I see in the exercise world is people wanting to lose weight, whining & complaining that they aren’t happy with their body. I see this everyday. Every now & then I find someone who decides enough is enough & they do something about it.
I was one of those people

I decided to get what really bothers me out of my head & down on paper.

I believe, no in fact I know that if we want something bad enough we will get it. If it’s important enough we will do what needs to be done to get what we want.

We all need GOALS! Without goals we have no idea where we are going or what we want. If you decide to get married what do you do? Do you say I’m going to get married one day then expect it to happen? Do you need to get more specific? Maybe you might need to work out how it’s going to happen. I mean if you say your going to get married I think you need a partner. It’s a bit hard to get married on your own! You may have to set a date. What about a location? Food? Music? & then once you work out all the details you then need to sit down & work out who’s attending. After all this you then need to make an investment or hope mum or dad will pay for it. Either way you will find the money & the time to make that wedding happen. It will become a priority in your life. You want it bad & you will get it!

Lets look at another subject. Let’s say work. Why are you working? Is it to pay for the things you want out of life? Did you wake up one day & hey presto you had a job? Or did you have to put effort & planning in to getting that job. Maybe you had to work out what you wanted to do. You might had to spend time getting educated to get the skills required to do that job. Do you wake up in the morning & think to yourself if you should go to work or do you just get up & go. Most people have a system where they go in to auto pilot & get ready for work without to much thought. They have done it consistent enough so it’s a habit.

Another subject. Lets look at that holiday or short trip away. If you have a holiday planned for let’s say the Gold Coast. You book the airfare, you book the accommodation, you plan it all in advance. You know when you are leaving & when you are returning. If you catch a plane you even know what time your going. You make it a goal & a priority in your life to go on that holiday. Let’s say you wake up the morning you are leaving with a bit of a cold or you feel under the weather. Maybe even a bit sick. Do you cancel that holiday? NOT ON OR LIFE! You set a goal up & you will achieve it.

Now why is it then that we say I want to lose weight & expect it too happen? If you can find a job, find the time & money for a holiday or even plan a wedding why can’t you lose weight? It’s not rocket science. You MUST COMMIT! You have to be CONSISTANT. You need specific goals & a deadline. If you really want to lose that weight you can do it. If you haven’t then you don’t want to. Now I do believe that some people do have medical conditions that really do stop them from loosing weight, but most of us don’t have that problem. Our desire just isn’t strong enough.
If we spent less time making excuses for & more time committing you would reach your goal.
When was the last time you changed your mind about doing your exercise because you were tired? Have you ever cancelled you personal training session because of something else? Guess what? That something else is more important to you than loosing that weight. If you want to lose weight, get fit or tone up then you need to be making it the number 2 priority in your life. What’s number 1? It’s family. Number 2 is health & wellbeing & number 3 is work.

Here is a little story about the old me who found out about goals & was sick of being MR AVERAGE.

I use to be 100kg before I started running. I use to hover around 80kg then not long after my second daughter was born (she was 3 month premature & a lot of time was spent in hospital) I put it all on. I did manage to get some off over the following year & was around 88kg to 93kg. Then one day I had to get into a suit & the bloody pants were so tight I thought I had on the wrong pants. It was then I said bugger this I’m going to lose the weight. It MUST come off. I’m in my early 20’s & getting obese! It must have been that night I took Sharnie our Bull Mastiff for a run/walk. We went for around 20min & I was stuffed. Could hardly breathe. I used my asthma puffer almost 6 times! Now I could have gave up quite easily but thought to myself this has to get easier. I started taking Sharnie for a daily run/walk. 30min was the most I could handle. I was waking up sore & stiff but noticed I was feeling better as the day went on. This went on for about 2 weeks & after all of this I hadn’t lost much weight. Maybe ½ kilo. I thought I need to address what I’m eating. Now I was eating CRAP! And a lot of it. Loved my butter. Loved my chocolate. Loved my biscuits. Loved my coke. I was eating pies, sausage rolls, ice-cream. I was drinking fullcream milk. I’d have almost 2lt of that a day. Cheese…..yummmm. Loved my takeaway. I use to work as a storeman & I can remember many a times having morning break at 8:30am & having hot chips! Anyway the fact is I had to change what I was eating. I could do all the exercise in the world but if I wanted to reach my goal I had to change my eating habits.
I decided to go cold turkey. I gave up drinking anything but water. Water was all I drank. Now let me tell you it was a massive shock to the body! I gave up the butter, the ice cream, the chocolate. I started & having stirfrys for dinner & taking leftovers for lunch. My morning break was now fruit & yoghurt. As soon as I changed my eating habits I lost 20kg between February & April. It was a new me!
Now my goal at the time was to run around Lake Ginninderra non stop. This is a 7km loop around one of the lakes in Canberra. I can even remember the month when all this started. It was mid January and the year was 1999. It took me about 3 weeks to reach that goal. Now do you think I ran once or twice a week? NO. I ran 5 x a week rain, hail or shine. I was committed to reaching what I had set out to achieve & nothing was going to stop me! I just figured I’d lose the weight on the way
I ran 5 x a week & ate healthy. That’s all I did. In this time I was getting fitter & less stressed. I did this with a job working from 6am to 3pm and at the time I had 3 daughters & was married. When did I run? When did I fit this in? I dedicated 4pm & 5pm to my running.
I was starting to like running so I thought I might try & go in a race. I had no idea how I would go & was terrified that I might come last. But hey….running was keeping the weight off & I had reached my goal of running around the lake & I knew if I didn’t pick an event I would stop. I was getting board. I got on the internet & found out about the Canberra half marathon in May. It was 1 lap around Lake burley griffin. 21.1km!!!!! I thought if I could run 7km I could run 14km. If I can run 14km I could do 21km. So I set out for a long run of 14km around Lake Ginninderra 2 times. I have never felt so bloody exhausted in all my life! I did do it but bloody hell it was tough! I had about 4 weeks to get ready for this thing. I entered so now I was COMMITED! If I didn’t do this thing I was going to lose my $25 I invested & damn if I was going to let that happen!
One Saturday morning after I had finished work I parked my car at Lake Burley Griffin. I took a water bottle with me & off I went. I ran slow just wanting to get around the lake non stop. I knew if I could do it I could finish the race. Now if you think 14km is hard you should try 21km!
Over the next couple of weeks I ran that thing EVERY SATURDAY. I made it my Saturday goal. Nothing was going to get in the way. If I had to I would run at 5am. (never had to but I would’ve) I knew if I didn’t I wouldn’t complete the race.
Sunday 16th may 1999 was the race date & I remember heading off & plodding around the course. I finished running non stop in 1hr 37min & 44 seconds. I was placed 133rd overall. There must have been 400 or 500 people in it. Was I happy? Heck yeah! I completed my first ever race! I was weighing around 72kg & was feeling on top of the world! Much different than 5 months earlier when I couldn’t run for 30min without walking & was about 25kg heavier! The problem with all of this I found a new passion. I hated running but loved the results it gave me. And finishing a race was the best feeling in the world.

It’s now May 2007. It’s 8yrs ago I ran that race. It’s 8yrs ago I lost that weight. As I write this I’m about to race the Canberra half again. This will be my 6th Canberra half. A lot has changed since I set that goal 8yrs ago. I’ve been on quite a journey. It was a year later I completed my first marathon. That’s another story for another time but let me tell you that (at the time was the most painful thing I had ever done!) the marathon changed my life. I completed that marathon in 3hrs 40min 2sec. I couldn’t walk without limping for a week & it took 3 weeks before I could run again!
8 yrs on I have completed 9 marathons. The quickest in 2hr 56min. I have completed around 30 half marathons & 1 ultra marathon. I’m training for my 10th marathon in July & I’m completing another Canberra Half this weekend. I have gone from 1hr 37min 44sec for my first half marathon to my current best of 1hr 20min 19sec which was last year (2006) I kept setting goals & reaching them. There is no way I would’ve got where I have without setting goals & I’m not finished either! This year (2007) I’m going to break 80min for the half marathon & run under 2hrs 55min for the Gold Coast Marathon. I have a goal in place with a deadline. I WILL DO IT! I also have a goal to do 35min for 10km.
Over the next 5yrs I have more goals set. I’m going to run under 2hrs 45min for the marathon. I’m going to run 75min for the half marathon & I’m going to run 34min for 10km. I know I will do it. I have a system in place (that’s called not giving up!) & I trust it. It will work & I will get there!
After that? Who knows? I will tackle that when I get there!

I’m not this super human. I find running hard like anybody else. I just love the results that come form it all. All I have done is set goals, made it a priority in my life & done what needs to be done to succeed.
You can apply the same principles that I have with my running to your goals. But you must make it a priority in your life. If you don’t then don’t expect to lose that weight. Don’t expect to get rid of that back pain. Don’t expect to get fitter or tone up. One thing you can expect is to be worse off than you are right now.
Don’t blame things for stopping you from getting what you want. We all have tough times in our lives. Bloody hell I’ve had plenty! But through all the good & all the bad I’ve never let it stop me from reaching my goals.

You can do it to!

I hope this short true story of my early running days helps you get motivated enough to reach your goals.

Darren McClellan


Since I wrote this which was 5 yrs ago I've now completed over 18 marathons fastest being 2hr54min, 9 or 10 ultras, over 40 1/2 marathons fastest being 79min and 100's of fun runs